The Henry G. Manne Program in Law & Economics Studies, a division of the Law & Economics Center at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, invites paper proposals for the Research Roundtable on Law and the Allocation of Risk.

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The Research Roundtable on Law and the Allocation of Risk explores the challenges of managing and allocating risk within legal frameworks, particularly focusing on the tension between compensating victims and deterring harmful behavior. This tension is well-known in the insurance context as the ‘insurance-deterrence tradeoff,’ but it extends across various areas of law and risk management. As risk landscapes evolve, legal systems face increasing complexity in balancing these objectives, requiring innovative approaches to risk management and allocation.

This Roundtable is designed and will be facilitated by Erin E. Meyers, Assistant Professor of Law at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School.

A commitment to participate in person at the Research Roundtable is required for an author’s application to be considered, and such participation is required, among other submission obligations, in order to receive the honorarium.

Key Questions:

• How can risk management strategies address scenarios where full compensation undermines deterrence, or where optimal deterrence fails to provide adequate redress?
• In risk allocation, when should compensation or deterrence take precedence?
• How are emerging risks reshaping traditional approaches to legal risk management?

A non-exhaustive list of potential topics is listed below:

1. Insurance and Risk Allocation

• Impact of risk-spreading mechanisms on harm prevention incentives
• Insurance companies as risk managers and de facto private regulators
• Moral hazard in intentional torts and lack of compensation for victims

2. Public Sector Risk Management

• Risk of underdeterrence in the context of sovereign and qualified immunity
• Tensions in compensating victims with public funds
• Risk sharing and accountability in public-private partnerships

3. Behavioral Barriers to Optimal Deterrence and Compensation

• The role of bounded rationality in risk-taking behavior of potential defendants and victims
• Public perceptions of risk in the face of evolving sources of news media

4. Catastrophic Risk

• Legal responses to rare, high-impact events that challenge conventional cost-benefit frameworks

5. Climate Risk and Property Insurance

• Climate-driven insurance crises and their effect on land use and risk-taking
• Risk allocation between government, insurers, and property owners
• Potential future government subsidies in homeowners insurance

6. Quantifying Non-Monetary Harms

• Identifying contexts in which the legal system may systematically overvalue or undervalue intangible harms
• Impact of damage caps on risk allocation

These and other topics that expert applicants identify as worthy of analysis will be considered. Authors should make a point of explaining where their research will fill gaps in the existing research and literature.

1. Submission of Research Proposal – Submission Deadline of July 14, 2025:

• Paper proposals will be considered, and acceptances granted on a rolling basis, so early submission is encouraged. The absolute deadline for proposals is Monday, July 14, 2025 at 5:00 PM EST.
• Proposals should include a brief abstract of the proposed paper and should address the feasibility of completion by the required deadlines. Proposals should be no longer than three pages. Successful applicants will be notified by Monday, July 21, 2025.
• Paper proposals should be accompanied by an updated CV and a link to the author’s website bio. Prior work in this field should also be highlighted where appropriate.

2. Research Roundtable, (October 9 – 11, 2025):

• Selected authors will present well-developed drafts of their papers at a private research roundtable. This research roundtable is designed to provide authors with constructive feedback from expert academics and practitioners in the field. In addition to the paper, authors are expected to serve as commentators on all papers. The research roundtable will also provide at least one additional commentator per paper who will join the roundtable. This peer review process ensures every draft paper undergoes significant scrutiny and receives substantial feedback for improvement. Research roundtable drafts should represent substantial work beyond the proposal, and they should be suitable for presentation at a faculty workshop. Authors chosen to present will be provided an honorarium of $4,000 per paper after timely submission of their draft and presentation of their work at the October roundtable. Roundtable drafts will be circulated to participants two weeks prior to the roundtable and are therefore due by September 24, 2025.

3. Completion of Final Draft, Submission to a Suitable Academic Journal, and Posting to SSRN (January 31, 2026):

• Authors are expected to complete a final draft and post their paper to SSRN by January 31, 2026. The LEC will also host these drafts on its website (https://masonlec.org). Upon completion of these requirements, authors will receive a final honorarium for the remaining balance of $4,000 per paper.  As a condition of receiving final payment, authors must commit to seek publication in a suitable academic journal by February 1, 2026, if submitting to the general law review pool, or by January 1, 2026, if submitting to peer-reviewed journals.

In addition to providing honoraria, the LEC will provide lodging and group meals at the Research Roundtable. Participants will be responsible for their own transportation arrangements and expenses.

To submit a proposal for the Roundtable, please apply here. For questions about the Roundtable, please contact Gwendolyn Watson at [email protected].

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The LEC’s Henry G. Manne Program in Law & Economics Studies promotes law and economics scholarship by funding faculty research, convening research roundtables, and hosting policy-relevant academic workshops and conferences.

Established in 2010 to honor the legacy of Henry G. Manne – legendary former Dean of the Antonin Scalia Law School, founder of the Law & Economics Center, and one of the founding fathers of the law and economics movement – the program seeks to improve the quality of legal scholarship by offering educational workshops on important and topical areas of study.

Since its founding, the Manne Program’s workshops and research roundtables have included more than 2,000 participants from 429 academic institutions. In addition to its core constituency of academics, Manne Program events also attract attendance from the policy community, including economists and lawyers from federal agencies, Capitol Hill, state government offices, and the non-profit and for-profit research sectors.